So the other night I walk into MacAuthority, a third party apple retailer and essentially had this kid un-sell me an Apple TV. He litterly talked me out of it. I recently bought an iPad 2 and thought it would be cool to share things on my TV via AirPlay.
Long story short, I didn't buy it so I thought i'd ask you guys. What's the word up hardware and software updates as well.
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Should I buy an Apple TV, ever?
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mtthwsms' pick
I've owned both the first and second generation AppleTV boxes. The first gen box was a glorified radiator and was difficult to keep cool. It had one great feature, that was the hard drive.
The day the AppleTV 2 went on sale in Canada, I bought one and have been enjoying it's features since then. Strictly a streaming device but very good at doing it. I have compared NETFLIX streaming from my PS3, XBOX 360 and LG Bluray 3D player and all suffer degraded quality. The Apple TV (on same wireless bridge as other devices) is always sharper for netflix.
I agree with teilo - the remotely stored movies (which I have a great deal of in several different formats including MKV on my local NAS) aren't accessible from the AppleTV unmodified. If you look into a product like Firecore aTV Flash (firecore.com/?atvhacks) which will Jailbreak the AppleTV and put additional feature on the Box - This solves the problem. I use aTV Flash and swear by it. It gives me feature like Browsing, RSS, My Movies library streaming and several other goodies that just add to the good feature-set that the AppleTV has out of the box.
For the ~$100 you cannot go wrong. In fact save yourself and extra $10 and get a refurb off Apples's website if you're still unsure. I loved the product so much (using it all the time with my iPad / iPhone with Airplay)...I bought one for my parents.
This product gets 3 Thumbs up in my Book (I was born with three hands ;-) )
The day the AppleTV 2 went on sale in Canada, I bought one and have been enjoying it's features since then. Strictly a streaming device but very good at doing it. I have compared NETFLIX streaming from my PS3, XBOX 360 and LG Bluray 3D player and all suffer degraded quality. The Apple TV (on same wireless bridge as other devices) is always sharper for netflix.
I agree with teilo - the remotely stored movies (which I have a great deal of in several different formats including MKV on my local NAS) aren't accessible from the AppleTV unmodified. If you look into a product like Firecore aTV Flash (firecore.com/?atvhacks) which will Jailbreak the AppleTV and put additional feature on the Box - This solves the problem. I use aTV Flash and swear by it. It gives me feature like Browsing, RSS, My Movies library streaming and several other goodies that just add to the good feature-set that the AppleTV has out of the box.
For the ~$100 you cannot go wrong. In fact save yourself and extra $10 and get a refurb off Apples's website if you're still unsure. I loved the product so much (using it all the time with my iPad / iPhone with Airplay)...I bought one for my parents.
This product gets 3 Thumbs up in my Book (I was born with three hands ;-) )
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mtthwsms' pick
I don't have an Apple TV but I have used one and they are quite useful in certain circumstances. I think that iOS 5 makes it a lot more useful. You can do full mirroring from your iPad/iPhone, and that makes it a lot better for showing people things/playing games/watching videos.
Photostream will allow you to view your photos on a much larger screen pretty much as soon as you take them.
Airplay will allow you to watch movies / netflix etc.
I'd say go for it, it's a relatively inexpensive device and quite useful when used with other iOS devices.
Photostream will allow you to view your photos on a much larger screen pretty much as soon as you take them.
Airplay will allow you to watch movies / netflix etc.
I'd say go for it, it's a relatively inexpensive device and quite useful when used with other iOS devices.
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I've had Apple TV's since they first came out and currently have two of the 2nd Generation ones. We love them and I tell everyone to get one. I will say that over the years I've put effort into ripping our DVD's and even exporting our home movies to iTunes so we have quite the collection. The iPad integration with AirPlay is fantastic. This summer I used the iPad to stream the iTunes music festival to the Apple TV and watch it on the big TV. I can even see Apple TV's in business conference rooms where each speaker can just take control and send their presentation to the screen. No more getting one person everything necessary for the meeting. It's just cool technology.
The Apple TV has it's haters since it's so integrated with Apple and 'not open enough' but that's Apple. It's not like an iPod works with Zune Pass. Chances are the kid has never really played with one other than a few demos.
The Apple TV has it's haters since it's so integrated with Apple and 'not open enough' but that's Apple. It's not like an iPod works with Zune Pass. Chances are the kid has never really played with one other than a few demos.
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If you already have an iPad or an Phone it is a no-brainer to get an Apple TV.
I use mine to stream videos from my Apple devices. Its great to use AirVideo (around £5) to stream video from your PC to your iPhone, in all sorts of formats, and then just "Airplay" it to the Apple TV with no apparent quality loss. You don't need to Jailbreak to play movies in all sorts of formats.
I'm tempted to get a few more for our other TVs- probably at the next refresh. If only so I can play music all over the house in different rooms at once.
I use mine to stream videos from my Apple devices. Its great to use AirVideo (around £5) to stream video from your PC to your iPhone, in all sorts of formats, and then just "Airplay" it to the Apple TV with no apparent quality loss. You don't need to Jailbreak to play movies in all sorts of formats.
I'm tempted to get a few more for our other TVs- probably at the next refresh. If only so I can play music all over the house in different rooms at once.
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You can stream from Netflix which I do and you can stream from other places with the included widgets. However ;I bought my AppleTV for one reason, Airplay. I can mirror my iPad 2 onto my Vizio 42" HDTV. Oh my. I play movies on my iPad 2 and they play on my 42" HDTV screen. I play TV shows from ABC, NBC and CBS. It's so great.
I have a White Nov07 Macbook which I have hardwired connected to our TV. I'm excited that the new Lion laptops also have Airplay and can now be wireless mirrored to the TV set. I'm waiting till next year to get a new 2012 Ivy Bridge Macbook Air.
Mirroring iDevices to the big screen HDTVs is the best. imho
I have a White Nov07 Macbook which I have hardwired connected to our TV. I'm excited that the new Lion laptops also have Airplay and can now be wireless mirrored to the TV set. I'm waiting till next year to get a new 2012 Ivy Bridge Macbook Air.
Mirroring iDevices to the big screen HDTVs is the best. imho
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My response would be, "unsold" you as an alternative to what, exactly? There are a number of media players out there, such as the sub-$100 Roku devices, but if you are invested in iOS technology, want to share your iTunes library, and still have decent Netflix, Youtube, etc., support, you can't beat the Apple TV. None of the other devices in the same price bracket integrate so seamlessly with Apple technology.
If, on the other hand, you want to spend $600 on an Mac Mini and spend a bunch of time getting Plex, Boxee, or XMBC working properly, you can do better than the Apple TV in some respects, and can play more media, support more plugins, etc. However, you still won't get the integrated support for iTunes rentals or Fairplay protected video, with a 10-foot interface like the Apple TV.
In my case, I have ripped a lot of my DVDs to MKV files which reside on an external hard drive. The Apple TV is useless there, so the Mac Mini is just the ticket. You also have the advantage of watching Hulu through a web browser, and thus don't have to pay for Hulu+ just to get the privilege of viewing the same content via a 10-foot interface.
If, on the other hand, you want to spend $600 on an Mac Mini and spend a bunch of time getting Plex, Boxee, or XMBC working properly, you can do better than the Apple TV in some respects, and can play more media, support more plugins, etc. However, you still won't get the integrated support for iTunes rentals or Fairplay protected video, with a 10-foot interface like the Apple TV.
In my case, I have ripped a lot of my DVDs to MKV files which reside on an external hard drive. The Apple TV is useless there, so the Mac Mini is just the ticket. You also have the advantage of watching Hulu through a web browser, and thus don't have to pay for Hulu+ just to get the privilege of viewing the same content via a 10-foot interface.
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I have an Apple TV, when I feel like playing a podcast, TV show or music on my TV instead of my iMac my Apple TV really proves it's worth. It's hassle free and just works.
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